Subscribe to Blog via Email

Meta

Pluto Truthers meme hits News-weak

NASA doubters hitting the lamestream media.

There’s a small but vocal group of conspiracists—bloggers have taken to calling them “Pluto Truthers”—who claim the recent images are fake. In fact, they argue, New Horizons is simply the latest bogus galactic mission to deceive the public, perhaps to divert tax money to more secretive or nefarious government projects. That trickery is nothing new, they charge; it goes all the way back to the first moon landing.

5 thoughts on “Pluto Truthers meme hits News-weak”

If you take the time to look into the reasoning behind the arguments saying Nasa is delivering fake photos, evidence, etc, it’s not crazy at all. No need to hate/fear/mock/twist the words and intentions of those who say it’s not real. —— Unless of course you are afraid they do have a good point and you don’t want to have to incorporate that good point into your world view because it messes with the foundation of everything. I’ve researched the theories saying Nasa is doing pretty much nothing but hoaxes and they make great points. I’m inclined to say they are more than likely right. And it’s not because it’s “too good to be true” or I don’t believe in science itself. To the contrary – I had always assumed Nasa was “true” until I got curious and gave a respectful listen to those who say it’s not. Those who say Nasa is lying are also using science and the scientific method to arrive at their conclusions. Methodically disproving false evidence is as valid as any proof. The more you mock an opposing body of research rather than hear them out – the more you demonstrate insecurity surrounding your own preconceived notions. —— But I don’t mean to disrespect that insecurity – actually when I first realized Nasa was almost surely lying about almost everything it was a shock to my system, and incredibly – sad and uncomfortable. But I’ve adjusted just fine. A few days of disorientation in regards to my world view and I’ve regained my equilibrium. It’s ok – on both sides – to believe or to question – life will continue for you. When kids realize Santa isn’t real it can be a shock – but in time they adjust just fine too. It’s ok to stop mocking and hear out the theories – no matter what conclusions you personally make from it – it’s ok to respect and to even consider new ideas that challenge your own. If you really hear them out (read , watch – whatever) you may not “switch sides” but I guarantee you will realize they make a strong case. And you may let go of your defensive need to mock and ridicule – conflicting ideas are the stuff of life – and of the progress of scientific knowledge.

Cool stuff. If this isn’t someone we already know (Videre?), Ab should get a hold of them and see if they want to be on a podcast. 🙂

Here are some examples of Nolita’s opposition. See if you can detect any hint of bullying, jingoism and/or failure to formulate a simple analysis of the problem with strangers demanding trust of strangers. My bolds :

BigFatDave
My father worked at NASA for the entirety of his career as an avionics engineer and later a flight director. I have been in Mission Control during a spaceflight. It’s a real thing and not to disparage your right to bury your head in the sand or subscribe to crackpot theories – but things that sound or seem true sometimes aren’t remotely true. Once upon a time, people thought the world was flat…it made sense to them and they had anecdotal evidence that the world was some kind of massive geological pancake. But it isn’t. We know that now. We have evidence, not just opinions or inklings or hunches. So trust your gut on this one, pal. But men and women have dedicated their energy, intelligence and drive t0 the pursuit of space exploration…a few have actually sacrificed their lives. And your condescending claptrap is an insult to their heroism.

Tridian[…] that’s the mind of a conspiracy theorist: make up your mind, and never change it regardless of any facts presented.

I know not trusting a government organization is hip and fun, but sometimes the least complicated explanation (that this is real) is actually the truth.

They sound a bit confused. Does Tridian have the mind of a conspiracy theorist, because they won’t change their mind when presented with evidence of NASA fakery? Is it really “hip” and “fun” to be called names by the majority of the population just for reaching a different conclusion than those who haven’t looked into it very deeply?

Astrodave
Do these guys have any idea how many people are involved in a mission like this???!!!??? For example, there are three main ground stations to which the data come back from space – one at Goldstone, California, one near Madrid, Spain, and one (Tidbinbilla) near Canberra, Australia. Much of the staff at these sites are local residents/citizens – i.e. foreigners in Spain and Australia. The technicians, antenna operators, engineers, etc. at each of these sites can tell for themselves that data are really coming back from Pluto.

How is it that a technician with no experience in data outside of their expertise reliably says they can prove data is coming from any given place? Even an expert could be fooled by a prank. So anything less than an expert would have the joke on them. I don’t think a true expert would ever declare themselves beyond deception.

How in the world could you throw the wool over the eyes of such folks. They are knowledgeable about all facets of station operation, and it boggles the mind that you could “buy” all of them! Overall, a mission such as this involves thousands of people (people who designed it, those who built it, those who operate it, etc.), most of whom would go straight to the press immediately if they realized there was any kind of hanky-panky going on. You might silence/buy off a few people here and there, but not thousands, spread out ALL OVER THE WORLD!

Actually, threatening thousands of people’s livelihoods with a well-hidden military with access to the most technically advanced spying/communication networks known to humankind sounds like a pretty reasonable way to control them entirely — no matter where they live. But I could be wrong. Maybe the new generations don’t fear death or suffering, are immune to threats and have no use for money and privilege.

Fleet Admiral Josh[…] They may use scientific language to make it SOUND like they are using science and the scientific method to arrive at their conclusions. Such as with the Moon hoaxers, if you didn’t know any better, the “science” they lay out may sound convincing. That is until you learn about the ACTUAL science of the situation, and then you learn that they are either ignorant, bullshitting you, or both.

Just because someone sounds scientific in how they talk doesn’t actually mean they are practicing actual science.

Hmmm. And what about forum posters like this phony “Fleet Admiral” that don’t even sound remotely scientific? Are they practicing science?

Robert Brown
I’ve dug through these viewpoints for the past thirty minutes, and can conclusively say that they are all morons.

aMaG1CaLMaNg1Na
Uh huh, that was a nice ramble. Where is all of this contrary scientifically backed evidence?

Try CluesForum, magical mangina!

Grive
The thing is, we have taken the time to look into it. And we have found it lacking. It’s not insecurity, it’s just that the balance of evidence overwhelmingly favors NASA.

It is true that they try to follow the scientific method, but that is not enough to ensure the correct conclusion. In the case of these videos, the issue is that they fail to take important variables into account, or they fail to understand the theory behind proof of the official reports.

Since when does NASA offer any proofs whatsoever of its official reports? That would be amazing.

Space travel and exploration in particular is an easy one to verify: In general, the basics are very well understood, and proof is incredibly hard to competently fake if you know what to look for.

SirFuddlestonHuddleston
I’ve been looking at “NASA is a hoax” videos for a month now, and not one of them actually debunks anything. 1) They get all their facts wrong […] 2) Their methodology, if they have one, sucks and 3) They don’t validate a hypothesis — they just throw a lot of sand in the air, mud in the waters, and stir like crazy.

That’s the thing — these guys are 100% of the time simply confused as to what the information actually is, but instead of asking somebody, they think it’s a big breakthrough.

Just ask somebody! Like this tool:

Spoooon
Naw, fuck those guys. Fuck the “Earth is flat” people. Fuck the Moon Landings are Fake people. Their ideas are shit and they should be ashamed for spouting them.

Sounds like a pretty scientific answer.

EmpressZombieSchizophrenics often build up an intriguing case.

oniraptor
It’s unfortunately not a mental health issue but rather the lack of adequate teaching of Sciences and critical thinking. We have several generations of people now that, at least in the US, simply don’t understand the basic tenets of what they are told. It really comes down to the entrenched ignorance of a large percentage of the public from a horribly degraded educational system. It’d what happens when you funnel public school funds into private schools which started at least as far back as the 80s.

Aha, the spin of the Democrats marries the spin of the Republicans. Nice.

The Cap’n
I don’t honestly think it’s all mental illness. For some people, sure, various conspiracy theories can feed a larger disability. But for most people, I think it’s just lack of understanding and education on science. The science behind the Pluto flyby is complex, and the average person has trouble passing chemistry and physics in high school. It’s much easier to understand pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo that sounds like it makes sense than it is to have a solid foundation of scientific understanding.

If someone could actually define the difference, I think it might be Ab or another Fakeologist, not these folks.

roflnon
You can spend all you want, but you can’t force people to get therapy. Also, no amount of therapy can fix “stupid”.

Lotta friends:

a90ng
[…] There are in fact satellites, my have a couple friends who are working on Cubesat satellites at UCLA that collects data from Earth’s magnetosphere. It’s been up there and has gone back and is going up there again. Another friend worked with Prof. David Paige at UCLA on a satellite on all sides of the Moon looking for traces of ice water. Then he worked at NASA to analyze Martian dust, and it is Martian since he analyzes the composition through a spectrograph which shows that the isotope composition and abundances are unlike Earth’s composition and similar to other Martian meteorites […]

Great analysis Hoi. There’s nothing of substance in their attacks to prove anything other than a rabid attachment to NASA propaganda. When collated, we can see the emperor has no clothes and is rather defenceless. If nothing else, ball earth skepticism can bring a new wave to knock NASA out.